The logistics and supply chain market has become increasingly competitive in Asia Pacific over the past decade, with multi-nationals, local and specialized industry players all vying for market share. Companies, particularly during the economic downturn of 2008 – 2009, demanded higher levels of reliability and accuracy, whilst also focusing on cost, transit and stock Turn-Around Time (TAT) reductions. YCH Group, founded in Singapore over fifty years ago, seeks to address and exceed the expectations of customers by providing innovative solutions and an integrated approach to technology adoption. YCH's strategic use of technology enables intelligent end-to-end management of supply chains and helps drive competitive advantage for customers. This approach also allows YCH to add value in specialized markets such as high-technology, chemical, pharmaceuticals and Fast Moving Consumer Goods as well as cold chain and manage supply chain routes in multiple geographies. Over the past decade YCH significantly grew its operating footprint in Asia and now has facilities in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Philippines, Australia, India, Vietnam and Korea.

Stepping Up to the Next Level In 2008 YCH management made the decision to upgrade their Penang, Malaysia facility to become their largest scale implementation of Radio Frequency Identification-enabled Supply Chain Management Nerve Center in their network. The facility, which provides supply chain solutions for a large global technology company, was selected to debut the next generation management platform for a number of reasons. Firstly, the customer requested a significant improvement in stock Turn-Around Times (TATs), which would require a thorough re-examination of existing systems. In addition, the complexity of the 220,000 square foot facility would provide an ideal business case for the technology implementation. In the space of roughly two football fields around 3,000 Stock-Keeping Units are managed for the customer, from over 300 suppliers, in over 30,000 storage locations. It would have been impossible to speed up turnaround times in this complex operating environment without fundamentally overhauling the warehouse management flow.